Beware: Love Tap requires a large glass

I HAVE been banned from talking about the weather at work. It is true that the recent heat has meant that matters meteorological have been taking up more than the normal (albeit still large) part of conversation, so I suppose I should have been expecting it.

I hope it can make it back as a topic when we get some rain. That said, it has been the perfect climate for drinking beer. Lots of beer.

With the Christmas celebration season in full swing, opportunities abound for trying new and exciting drinks. Indeed, Hugh the Neighbour and I sat down to try a couple of cold and frothies from Moon Dog Brewing in Victoria - specifically their Love Tap Lager. This is a really different beer - in a good way.

Clearly not brewers to be trifled with, Moon Dog have made a name for themselves brewing radically different styles and flavours - we are talking pineapple, coconut and rose water as ingredients here, leading to beers with names like Perverse Sexual Amalgam and Mustafa's Dancing Helmet Apricot IPA.

The Love Tap Lager is refreshing, citrusy and drinkable - it pours cloudy yellow in the glass and you get a big mouthful of tropical hoppiness in the mouth. In fact, it was nothing like what you expect in a bottle marked lager. It is more like a pale ale.

Starting to get the picture here? When I used the words "cold and frothies” above, that was not by accident. This is a beer that frothed up like an ice cream spider. Hugh poured his beer first, and it had eight to 10 centimetres of thin white froth floating on the top.

Fortunately, before I offered to go and get him a parfait spoon, I had a go at pouring mine, and despite trying to keep the head reasonably sized, achieved exactly the same effect. Second time round we each tried to keep the head down, glass almost flat and more a dribble than a pour but to no avail.

That said, it in no way detracts from the flavour of the beer, but you need to ensure you are using glasses large enough to take a heap of suds. This is a beer for a hot day - bitter and tasty enough that you won't want to overdo it, and different enough to make a talking point with friends.